You just can't tell
by OTHLOVER901
Summary: A young woman driving alone on an empty highway, when two moody truckies come along followed by a helpful stranger.
1. Chapter 1

_A young woman driving alone late at night, starring a couple of moody truckies and a very friendly and helpful stranger._

It's set roughly 10 years after season 7. Rory and Tristan are getting married however it's mostly a Rory/Jess story with only a mention of Tristan.

Rory was feeling tired and stiff after putting in extra overtime at the publishing company she worked for, and was dreaming of a nice hot soak in the bathtub with a steamy cup of coffee as soon as she got home. The extra money would come in very handy with her and Tristan's wedding day only six weeks away and all the unexpected little extras were starting to mount up as the big day grew closer and closer.

As she drove, the dashboard clock showed it was 1:25 am, and her thoughts turned to Tristan, out on his trawler, "Mary" (he named the boat after Rory, he told her that while he was away the boat would remind him of the Mary he had waiting for him at home) If the wind stayed down, he could expect to land a five or six ton haul of fish for the night, he had made some really good hauls this season, only another four payments to go and the boat would be paid for.

The road was quiet, and she was still twenty kilometres away from home, there wasn't much on the radio, so Rory turned up the C.B. she could hear a couple of truckies chatting on their way back out of town, they were bragging about how good and reliable their trucks were to one another. It was then that she remembered that her father had suggested she bring her car over so he could replace the points, (whatever they were), that were well overdue, maybe next week, but she didn't really have time this week though.

There was often a bit of foul language on the C.B. and she wasn't all that keen on listening to it, but both her Grandfather and Tristan insisted that she leave it on if she was driving late at night. Listening was one thing, but no way would she ever talk into one. Her Grandfather had been a senior Coach Captain with Greyhound Coaches on the Inter-Capitol Express Services for many years.

As she turned onto the local Motorway that by-passed town, Rory thought she felt the motor falter slightly, and then come good again, she guessed it was just tiredness. Just after she passed the first off-ramp, the motor coughed and died, as she coasted onto the shoulder, she noticed that the fuel gauge showed over half full, so that wasn't the problem.

Not being mechanically minded, Rory was at a loss as to what could be the fault, she looked around but there wasn't a house in sight. Then she remembered that the area was all old "open-cut" coal mine workings, and the nearest phone box was near the school four kilometres away.

The time showed it was only 1:45 am, Rory could hear the truckies voices getting fainter and realised that they had passed her going the other way as she turned onto the motorway, the speakers slowly went quiet.


	2. Chapter 2

A fear started to nag at the back of her mind as she started to remember news reports of lone females breaking down late at night on some quiet deserted stretch of road, and the only too often brutal and sadistic outcome. Her Grandfather's word's came flooding back, "Always keep your car in good repair, the days are long gone, when a girl could safely walk to a phone at night, there are too many weirdoes out and about now-days, life's not like it was back in my days."

Grandparents always seemed to remember a "back in my days" story. Rory could hear faint voices coming out of the C.B. speaker, it sounded like two truckies talking to each other with more than the usual amount of dirty language, and she looked in the mirror and saw the glow of approaching headlights. The distinctive assortment of coloured lights identified them as heavy vehicles.

The voices on the C.B. grew louder and clearer, Rory's eyes flicked back and forth between the mirror and the C.B. as the trucks loomed closer and larger, till she thought they were going to run clear over the top of her as they filled the rear view mirror. Suddenly, one of the voices said, "There's a small one parked on the fog line," as he first one roared past, the voice said, "Hey! There's a bird in it, and she's on her own," the second voice said he might stop and "check her out," as he hadn't been home in over two weeks, and this might be his lucky night.

They both slowed and pulled off the road in a cloud of dust just ahead of her car, the air-brakes hissed on and she saw the drivers doors on both trucks open two figures climbed down and walked slowly towards Rory's car, she couldn't see them clearly, as they were silhouetted at the brightness of their trailer lights, and her own lights were off to save her battery.

Fear started to grab at Rory's throat, and her stomach balled into a tight knot, as she felt a scream starting to build in her throat, she quickly checked that all the door lock buttons were down.

The guy from the second truck was tall and thin with long matted hair, as he leaned over and peered in the window, she could see that he had bad broken teeth, and hadn't shaved for days.

His mate was looking through the windscreen; he was a bit shorter with a gut, thinning hair and tattoo's on both arms. Rory grabbed the C.B and called for help, but had no way of knowing if anybody heard her, there were so many knobs and buttons; she mentally cursed herself for not learning how to use it.

Her Grandfather had insisted on leaving it in the car, when he first gave it to her. It looked tragically like it was going to be to late now. Both men were on each side of the car telling her to open the doors, so that they could show her how a real men could please a girl.

An occasional vehicle went past, but no one seemed to be taking any notice, and the truckies moods were getting darker and meaner. They started shaking the car back and forth, trying to spring the doors, they weren't going to take no! For an answer. The stories in the media took on a whole new meaning, as Rory felt that she too would be just another statistic.

As the voices got louder and the language became worse, she closed her eyes and started to remember the good times in her childhood, and regretted that she scoffed at her parents for remembering "their" good old days, for even tomorrow for her, now felt very precious.


	3. Chapter 3

As she silently prayed, Rory realised the car had stopped rocking, and she could hear a third voice, not as loud, but with a strong sound of menace to it. She opened her eyes just in time to see two figures heading back up the road into the darkness towards the trucks, loudly making verbal threats and hand gestures at the newcomer. Rory looked up to see a man in his mid to late thirties grinning through the window and asking if she was OK!, she stammered that she wasn't hurt, but her car wouldn't go.

As he lifted the bonnet, she saw the two trucks disappearing over the rise in front of her. She jumped in fright when he asked if she had a screwdriver, she pulled the boot release and he soon came back with a long bladed one in his hand, as he tinkered under the bonnet he made small talk, asking where she worked, where she was going etc.

Rory started to feel at ease, and slowly wound the window down inch by inch, as she talked. He asked why she didn't use the C.B. to call for help. Rory explained that she wasn't sure how to tune it properly, besides, it would only be truckies who would hear it anyhow and, they always stuck together.

He asked her to try the key, as she did the motor roared into life. He closed the bonnet, then looked in the window at the C.B. and told her that the transmitter was set far to low. Adding that it would pay her to get her Grandfather to show her how to use it.

While he was closing the boot Rory looked around, she couldn't see a car anywhere, and asked where he had come from, he just gestured up the with his hand. It was starting to rain, and he didn't have a coat on. Rory felt that she trusted him enough to offer him a lift up to his car. He accepted and got in, as she pulled out onto the highway, she commented on how lucky she was that it wasn't just another truckie who stopped, he just smiled in the darkness.

As they topped the next rise, panic started to grip her stomach. There in the darkness, in the glow of her headlights, she could see the menacing outline of a semi-trailer parked on the shoulder.

"This'll do me fine Rory, that's my truck there." Quickly looking sideways, she saw a glint of something shiny in his hand, a shiny boomerang on the key ring attached to his truck keys. He threw her a broad grin, and said, "Hey! Don't judge us all by the actions of those two, we're mostly fun lovin' guys with families, just trying to make an honest living." "Oh! and don't forget to send my regards to your Grandfather and tell him 'Big Mal', said hey. You see, I recognized that was your grandfather's car, from back when our grandfather's both drove for Greyhound Coaches. I knew him because I was hanging around the station a lot when I was a kid"

Later when she got home and she told Tristan and he comforted her and was sorry that he wasn't there and she just said it was okay and that just hearing his voice makes everything better.

When she mentioned it to her grandfather he just gave her a big grin and said "so you met Jess huh? Yeah he's a good kid!"


End file.
